I N I S T RY GOSPEL M
ENDS NEWS & TR
Rite of passage:S PSummer memories ORTS & T N AINME
& MISSIONS Y M I N I S T RWalker Moore
ENTERT
President Emeritus of Awe Star Ministries Email | walker@awestar.org @WalkerDeanMoore
O O L B OX T H C R U H C
While I was growing up, there were three great days in the life of young Walker. Christmas topped the list; my birthday came second (I think there was a theme going on here), and then the first day of summer vacation. Do you want to know what day made the bottom of my list? Valentine’s Day. No 9-year-old boy should have been E D Sto sign his name on those Iforced S S I Fwith CLA cards decorated little hearts and give them to the girls in our third-grade class. Summer vacation was never about how I was going to spend it but more how was I going to cram it all in. Summer meant barbecues, baseball, running through the woods, spending two weeks at our grandparents’ farm, catching hundreds of lighting bugs in IaC Mason E S jar, riding my bicycle, workVO ing in the garden, the neighborhood kids coming over to play Annie-Annie-Over or Red Rover, playing in the rain, a drive-in movie, church camp, Vacation Bible School, mowing the yard, going to the library, camping trips, fishing in the pond, shooting BB guns, swimming, climbing hay bales in the barn, spending a night or two in a tent, the smell of freshcut grass, running around with nothing on but a pair of shorts, catching a snake or two, riding in the back of the pickup, playing with my dog, tent revivals, driving tractors, playing in a stream, listening to the Kansas City A’s baseball game on my transistor radio, and did I mention barbecues?
PEOPLE & EWS CHURCH N Of course, summer also meant crawling into bed each night, exhausted. There wasn’t enough daylight to get everything in. My second least favorite day was the last day of summer We had to get newUclothes R Ego to bed Uand C LforTschool. & ready W S be early, so N weEwould All good things must come to an end. As a parent, I didn’t realize how much summer meant to children until it was too late. One of the things I regret with my boys is not having enough family activities during the summer. As a youth pastor. my summers were taken up with youth camps, mission trips, Sunday School parties and more. Oh, we did a few special things, but the boys spent most of their summers tagging along with their dad. I didn’t recognize the importance of this season. Eccl. 3:1 (ESV) says it best: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” The folly of being a young parent is not recognizing that each season has a purpose. My family were farmers, and the seasons dictated what we did. Spring is the time of the year when the soils are tilled, fertilizer is put down and seeds are planted. During the summer we watered, weeded and monitored our crops. Rain was the most important ingredient of the summer; we needed just the
right amount to have a great harvest. Fall was my favorite as the harvest was upon us. The combines churned as they plowed through the fields to gather the crops. Winter was the season of rest, a time to repair and replace equipment. After that, the cycle started all over again. The same is true with a family. The spring is when, as a young couple, you get to know and grow together. It is a time of fun and spontaneity before the great responsibilities of having other lives in your care. During this season, you create memories and lay your foundation as a couple. Summer is when have your children and experience the joy of being their guide. In this season, you will discover your strengths and weaknesses in your “miniature me.” You will also sacrifice your wants for the needs of your children. In the fall, you see the rewards of raising your children according to the Word of God, and they start the process of leaving and cleaving with their life mates. They are becoming capable, responsible and self-reliant. A sense of wellness becomes yours. Winter is a time for rest, renewal, reflection and re-enjoying your spouse. Then along comes the grandkids, and the seasons start all over again. Summer is upon us, and I desire that you fathers and mothers use this time to do something simple with your children. Many of my fondest memories are not about what we did but that we did it together. We see in the Bible that, in every season, Jesus spent quality time with those closest to Him. Whether he was traveling with His disciples, going out on the lake or eating a meal with them, they must have cherished the time and love He shared. And did I mention that at least some of those meals, especially in the summertime, must have included barbecue?
Shine: Hearing problems Alan Quigley Oklahoma Baptists’ Associate Executive Director Church Resources Group @AlanQuigley1
I have had a hearing issue most of my life. It all started when I had a hunting accident with my Dad at the age of 11 or 12. The older I got the more difficult it became to hear what was being said. I really didn’t know that I had a real hearing problem until I got married. My wife Cindy would come from another room in the house and asked me if I were ignoring her. I would explain that I simply didn’t hear her calling for me. The best marriage counseling I ever received was at a mall in Texas. We were at a Sears store, and they had a sign that said, “Free hearing test.” Cindy said, “Come on, you’re going to take that test.” I had never prayed to fail a test before, but for the sake of our marriage I prayed, “Dear God, if I haven’t lost some hearing, please take it now in order to save my marriage.” Well, clearly I had lost a lot of my ability to hear. I would often only hear part of the sentence or not understand what was being said at all. I covered the issue up the best I could by adjusting my head in order to put my better ear toward the speaker or by attempting to read lips. Pure and simple, vanity and pride kept me from getting hearing aids for years. However, this all changed several weeks ago. I had my hearing tested, so that I could get some hearing aids. When the doctor asked me why I had waited so long to get the devices, I said, “Vanity and pride.” He immediately asked, “So you don’t have these things in your life anymore?” My response
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surprised me. I said, “Yes I’m still more vain and prideful than I should be, but now there is a voice that I want to hear that is greater than anything else. That voice is the voice of my two year old granddaughter. When she would talk everyone said, ‘Oh did you hear that?’ I would say ‘No, what did she say?’ This happened over and over again, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t understand anything she was saying.” When there is a voice that we want to hear more than anything else, we will put aside everything that would prevent us from hearing that voice and put on everything that would help us to hear it better. Of course there is no voice that we as believers long to hear more than the voice of God. Paul writing to the Colossians in chapter three gives us a list of thing we must put away if we are going to hear God’s voice unhindered by the sin barriers where we all are prone to wade. When we have unconfessed sin in our life, the background noise of the world will muffle or even drown out the clear small voice of God that is trying to communicate with us. Therefore we must, as verses 5-10 says, put away whatever is worldly and sinful in our lives, so that God’s voice can be heard. Not only must we put away worldliness and sin, but we must also put on the some new things. Vers-
es 12-14 give us a list of things to put on: heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, accepting everyone, forgiving everyone, and above all put on love. These things connect us to God in Christ Jesus as He demonstrated all of these characteristics to us while He walked on the earth. Since God is Love, then when we have these qualities, we have a clear connection with God that is unhindered by the noise that would normally drown out His voice in our lives. Today, I love to clearly hear my granddaughter when she says, “Papa, I love you,” and nothing I need more in my life than to clearly hear the voice of God when He says, “Alan, I love you!”
Good News Whole World
June 10, 2021 | The Baptist Messenger | www.baptistmessenger.com | Gospel Ministry
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